Unfortunately the holidays can be a time for porch pirates, scams, and general dishonesty designed to separate you from your hard earned money, your presents or both. The latest holiday scam is designed to get you to give your Amazon.com account information to scammers. This according to KSHB-TV report.

In this scam you receive an email telling you that you have a big shipment arriving, usually one that's very expensive. Since you didn't place the large expensive order, they expect you'll want to get in touch with them. So they provide an 800 number prominently displayed in the scam email, and when you unwittingly call the scammers they ask for your email address and your password.

According to KSHB-TV here are some red flags of an Amazon phishing scheme:

  • The e-mail doesn't address you by name.
  • The return email address URL isn't Amazon.com
  • The email is talking about something expensive, that will cost you a lot of money. That's to get your attention.

Amazon.com says the following regarding phishing scams: "Amazon will never send you an unsolicited email that asks you to provide sensitive personal information like your social security number, tax ID, bank account number, credit card information, ID questions like your mother's maiden name or your password. If you receive a suspicious email, report it immediately." More information on how to keep you and your account safe while shopping Amazon.com can be found at the above link.

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